Aiden's eyes cracked open on the dimly lit bedroom as she gave a delicious stretch - as much as she could muster without disturbing Mitch, anyway. She was stiff and sore in all the right places and a fresh thrill tiptoed down her spine when her mind drifted back to why. A little glow of delight spread through her to see him still there with her. They'd drifted off together, snuggled up on the couch and under a fluffy blanket before they'd moved upstairs to her bedroom at some point in the wee hours. To her delighted surprise, he'd scooped her and their discarded clothing up and carried her, half asleep, to their current destination. A murmured "stay?" had left her lips without thought and she had been warmly gratified that it hadn't taken any convincing at all for him to slip beneath the sheets beside her. They'd shared another searing kiss before they'd settled in for the night, wrapped around one another as if it was something they'd been doing their whole lives. A soft smile curle

“I don’t know,” Aiden whispered, trying to get it together. “I do. You'd be miserable, both of you, wondering about what could have been. Are you going to keep coming home for holidays when he eventually brings someone new around? Or when he marries her and has kids with her? Not likely.” At the thought of him with someone else, loving her and marrying her and starting a family with her, her middle gave a painful twist, far worse than she could have anticipated. She sucked in a breath. “You’re probably right,” she said quietly. “I’m absolutely right, Aiden. I love you and I love him. And I’m gonna tell him the same… if I see him at all this week, that is,” she couldn’t help but add in with a sly grin before she grew serious again. “Don’t be stupid about any of this. He needs to give you time and space to figure things out, even if its just mental space, but you both need to think good and hard about what you’re willing to compromise to make this work. And don't give me any of tha

A short while later, Aiden had hopped out of the passenger side of her Thunderbird and waited, almost impatiently, for Mitch to join her on the sidewalk. Dutifully, she’d allowed him to drive so she didn’t bust her hand open again, but it had only served to give her too much time to think, leaving her antsy and unable to calm down without the benefit of concentrating on a tangible task. She could barely contain the growing anxiety and curiosity over just what might be in that safety deposit box, but she was also dreading it. The cryptic note had been repeated over and over in her mind and both she and Mitch had taken it apart and tried to consider everything it might possibly mean. As Mitch slid his hand into her good one, she practically dragged him through the doors before they made their way to the counter, the mysterious key dangling from her fingers. The teller at the counter eyed them up before her eyes honed in on the key, then their joined hands, before her gaze moved back t

“What do you mean, what was left in his care?” Aiden asked, slightly confused. She knew from the note that there was some story awaiting her, but even though Edward had passed, she figured whatever it was had died with him. TJ cleared his throat and came to a stop outside a heavily locked door. “Before he passed the torch to me, my father informed me of a few client files that had some… extra requirements attached to them. You were expected to turn up years ago, according to what is in his notes. Bill died under… unusual circumstances, you see. Maybe even suspicious ones. So when you didn’t, and no one else came calling, my father wrote down his account of Bill’s story and put it together with a file he kept under lock and key… Until today, I guess,” he finished up before unlocking the heavy door and pushing it open. “I’ll have to ask you to wait out here before we head to your deposit box.”Aiden was speechless, barely registering that Mitch had taken hold of her good hand while eye

A small smile played on her lips as she found herself getting lost in her grandfather’s words, the scenes playing in her head as he retold the story of the night he met Adelaide. She was almost giggling out loud by the time Mitch came back with the drinks. She looked up with a smile and the relief washed over him to see it. “What did you end up picking?” she asked with growing curiosity. “Grown up variety dirty vodka martinis,” he replied with an answering grin. “Perfection,” she said with a happy sigh and moved over so he could drag his chair to sit beside her. “Look. It’s his version of the night he met Nan,” she said, pointing at the start of the story. Mitch settled in close beside her to read, laughing every now and then at Bill’s colorful language and masterful turns of phrase - ‘rat bastard’ was one that stuck out at him, and an echo of Bill’s voice saying that exact thing sounded off in the depths of his memories. “From what I remember, he was quite the character,” he said